By Paul Pannone

A developing eWedNewz story stemming from a simple story release could cause some seismic changes at Bridal Guide as eWedNewz uncovers new information that could force other advertisers to re-think their association with the magazine. eWedNewz fans out our investigation into the matter.

In a Twitter exchange Bridal Guide travel expert, Jeff Hendlin alluded to the fictitiousness of eWedNewz reporting. Yet Hendlin posted this picture of the office he is leaving behind for the “much better” space a few blocks away. Hendlin captioned the image with, “gonna miss my office”.

 A reply to the story from Bridal Guide that protested too much said:

“Bridal Guide celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year. While some major bridal titles have been shuttered and others have been forced to make drastic staff reductions and changes, Bridal Guide has never dramatically reduced staffing and has no plans to reduce staff in the future. Most of our top management, editorial, and sales staff have been highly successful in their roles for decades and have been promoted from within the company. We’re proud to boast of the most knowledgeable and expert staff of any national bridal publication.

Contrary to your assertion, Bridal Guide isn’t shrinking. In fact, our focus is expanding and our bank of expert consultants in all wedding-related categories grows each year. Visitors to our new office will observe that it is an upgrade from the space that we’ve occupied on 7th Avenue for nearly eight years. The office configuration is less than traditional — with significant open space to facilitate greater communication between staff. The new office is intended to reflect Bridal Guide’s evolution to much more than a print product. As many of our advertisers already know, Bridal Guide embraces changes that include amazing advancements in our web site  traffic, our social media following, and digital publishing. In a very real sense, we’ve expanded our capabilities to establish Bridal Guide as much more than a magazine. We’ve evolved to become a communication resource that offers an efficient combination of media to produce positive results for our advertisers and an inviting environment for our audience.

Print always will be a core component in Bridal Guide’s marketing platform. We continue to stand head and shoulders above our primary competitor in this arena. As documented by the most recent ABC statements, Bridal Guide’s newsstand sales remain healthy while newsstand sales at Brides have plummeted to an all-time low of 38,000 copies per issue — lower than that every other nationally distributed bridal publication. As documented by the most recent MRI Syndicated  Research report, Bridal Guide reaches significantly more engaged readers than Brides, as well. I’m happy to provide ABC Fast Facts and MRI data to verify the veracity of these claims to you or to anyone who would like to review them. Our role in the print category continues to expand.

Tremendous changes are happening in the bridal industry — changes that are impacting the way in which we all do business. In spite of  these changes — or perhaps as a result of them — Bridal Guide offers tremendous opportunities to bridal market vendors. We attribute this to the fact that our staff includes some of the most seasoned professionals in the world. Again, neither our staff size nor our aspirations are shrinking. You were misinformed. We’re doing a lot  better than “holding our own.” Given our history, we expect another 25 years of growth and success, according to Bridal Guide.

In January Bridal Guide called out its competitors with similar information claiming to be sustaining it’s newsstand sale success. But in a developing story, eWedNewz finds dramatic information into the leadership of the company that could quickly shift support away from the magazine.

Over the weekend an exchange with Barry Rosenbloom, owner of the magazine, purports paying “a lot more” for “similar” space when faced with the eWedNewz question of whether the new offices are bigger than the ones departed on 7th avenue. Given the nature of Rosenbloom’s track record, it’s amazing– even laughable– that he would spend a nickel more for anything.

eWedNewz plans to dig in deeper and take Rosie up on his offer to come and view the new space, once they’re settled in.

eWedNewz

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2013